Ex-'American Idol' runner-up Blake Lewis dropped by Arista Records

By Steve Rogers, 06/23/2008

Former sixth-season American Idol runner-up Blake Lewis has announced he's been dropped by Arista Records, the Song BMG-owned RCA Music Group record label that released his "Audio Day Dream" debut album late last year.

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"Unfortunately I'm not longer with Arista, I don't know how that's going to pan out," Lewis said during a Saturday interview with Maximum Threshold, an Internet radio show. "[I'm with] no one [right now], I just got released -- pretty much dropped -- from my record label two days ago."

However according to Lewis -- who has previously admitted he was "kind of glad" he didn't win American Idol's sixth season -- Arista's decision is a "good thing."

"Oh, I think it's a great thing," Lewis said when asked whether being dropped was a good thing or a bad thing.

"I never really wanted to be with a major label, I wanted to be with an independent record label, but I kinda -- after American Idol, was kinda forced into the deal. Which is good because I got to make my -- you know I still got to have at least 80% control of my record and make a record that I was really proud of. But I didn't -- I wasn't very happy, I don't feel I got the support that I needed at that record label, so I think it's a good thing."

According to Lewis, he had initially been excited about the fact that 19 Entertainment had placed him with Arista, however he later became less "stoked" about the situation as time went on (as part of their participation, all American Idol finalists grant the show's 19 Entertainment production company the contractual option to sign them to recording, management and marketing contracts).

"I was with 19 and we started working on the record with 19 but then 19 signed me over to Clive [Davis]," Lewis said. "I was excited to go because I'd always wanted to be signed by Clive Davis, but then when I found out how, you know, people work under him and, you know, what the deal is -- the truth -- then I wasn't so stoked. But, you know, he's still a legend in the industry."

"Audio Day Dream" sold 98,000 units in its first week of release in December 2007 and has sold a total of 299,000 copies since its release.

"You know, I didn't really have a single that did well on the radio and I still sold 300,000," said Lewis. "It's a huge success for me, so I think it went great, people are still picking up the record."

(Photo credit Fox)

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